Thursday, October 27, 2016

Pending home sales shifted higher in September following August's notable dip and are now at their fifth highest level over the past year, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Increases in the South and West outgained declines in the Northeast and Midwest.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, grew 1.5 percent to 110.0 in September from a slight downward revision of 108.4 in August. With last month's gain, the index is now 2.4 percent higher than last September (107.4) and has now risen year-over-year for 22 of the last 25 months.
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The PHSI in the Northeast fell 1.6 percent to 96.5 in September, but is still 7.7 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest the index declined modestly (0.2 percent) to 104.6 in September, and is now 1.0 percent lower than September 2015.

Pending home sales in the South rose 1.9 percent to an index of 122.1 in September and are now 1.7 percent higher than last September. The index in the West jumped 4.7 percent in September to 107.3, and is now 4.0 percent above a year ago.emphasis added

This was above expectations of a 1.0% increase for this index. Note: Contract signings usually lead sales by about 45 to 60 days, so this would usually be for closed sales in October and November.